


Stormclouds On The Horizon

by WinchestersBananas



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Barry, Hurt No Comfort, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-08-24 15:13:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8376904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinchestersBananas/pseuds/WinchestersBananas
Summary: When a break in at STAR Labs leaves two members of Team Flash in a spot of trouble, will they be able to escape or will secrets be revealed? /Barry!Whump, Hurt!Barry, rating may change





	1. Chapter 1

The previously lively STAR Labs cortex was eerily quiet; Caitlin and Dr. Wells had long since gone home to 'catch up on lost sleep' and Cisco was way too absorbed in his repairs to notice Barry 's discomfort at the lack of metahuman activity in the past few hours. Barry's limbs had begun to stiffen from lack of movement during the past hour or so, but that didn't bother him half as much as the fact that not a single crime alert had popped up all day, rendering Barry useless to do anything but sit around hopefully awaiting something to occupy himself with. When nothing arose, he let out a small sigh and jumped to his feet, nudging the office chair neatly under the desk with his foot.

"Cisco," 

The sudden break of silence was enough to force the scientist's head upwards, his eyes wide. "I'm gonna go. It's getting late; maybe you should finish up too." The scientist merely nodded before turning his attention back towards the device in his hands, leaving Barry wondering if he'd even heard what Barry had said. Knowing Cisco, probably not. 

"Oookay then," Barry muttered, pulling the STAR Labs sweatshirt he'd borrowed earlier over his head. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow..." 

"Mhm." 

Without another word, Barry turned soundlessly on his heel and sped out of the room, the familiar gust of wind biting against his cheek as he did so. From the next room, he could vaguely hear Cisco let out a string of unrepeatable profanities and couldn't help but allow a small slither of a smirk play at his lips. As Caitlin would say, it was about time they invested in some paperweights.

Speeding into the small room that the STAR Labs inhabitants called the kitchen (but was really just the home to one singular sink, a few used glasses and a rusting kettle), Barry took a short glance at his watch. It was 10:30PM. If he moved fast enough, he may just be able to make it to the Coast City pizzeria before it closed for the night - he'd been promising Joe a large pepperoni for a good while now, but he'd either been too busy or just plain lazy, but he was mostly just hungry himself. Barry hadn't eaten in a few hours, and there was nothing better than the best pizza in the area to boost his metabolism. But first he needed a coffee.

Barry scooped up the cleanest glass he could find and had just begun to search the yellowing cupboards for some sort of caffeinated beverage when a shrill sound erupted from the wall above his head, causing Barry to practically leap out of his skin at the sudden change in volume. The glass slid out of his sweaty palm and hit the floor with a smash; Barry was too stunned to even make an effort to catch it. Of course, he'd heard the security breach alarm many times during his time at STAR Labs, but never at such a late hour or when second to nobody was around. He considered speeding upstairs to Cisco; maybe he'd set it off accidentally (it wouldn't be the first time), but on the off chance that somebody had really decided to break into the lab at such a ridiculous hour, it wasn't worth risking the exposure of his identity. So he'd have to make his way up to the cortex the old fashioned way: by walking. 

Barry weaved his way through the maze of corridors that lead to the cortex, his heart beating hurriedly in his chest as he prepared himself for the worst. The sharp ringing still echoed in the hallways, striking Barry with the realisation that perhaps there actually had been a break in; he was certain the piercing sound would have stopped by now if it were anything else. Nevertheless, he proceeded to the doorway to the cortex with caution and readiness for a fight. 

There weren't any immediately noticeable differences to the room except the young scientist that had previously stood behind the tool-covered desk had disappeared, along with whatever the hell he had been tinkering with. Perhaps Cisco went in search of me, Barry thought, although froze as another realisation hit him. Or maybe something bad has happened.

Barry took another step forwards, a wave of pure fear overcoming his mind as his eyes took in the terrifying sight before him. Cisco's lanky figure lay sprawled across the brilliant white floor, a small pool of blood forming around the sides of his head and getting caught in the tangled mess of his hair. There was no sight of the device he had been configuring, but that didn't matter as much to Barry as the state of his best friend did. He knelt closer, tugging the sweatshirt be was wearing over his shoulders and wrapping it tightly around the scientist's wound. As far as he could tell, the injury wasn't bad, but he of course was not Caitlin. The deep gash across the back of Cisco's head could be a lot worse than Barry could tell.

"Cisco? Can you hear me?" Barry's voice was shaky - he never had been a fan of blood, but he was trying his best to stay calm for his friend's sake. As presumed, there was no response. "Oh god." The CSI muttered under his breath before starting to his feet. He knew what he had to do; a simple phone call to Caitlin would ensure that Cisco would be okay. She didn't live too far away and was by far the best doctor he knew, even better than those wannabe nurses at the Central City Hospital. Barry began to turn around, heading towards his phone but was once again brought to shock as something hard struck him around his temple, the blunt force of the object forcing his knees out beneath him. He fell to the ground, twisting his neck awkwardly in an attempt to get a good look at his attacker through blurred vision. He had been stupid, so stupid to forget about the security breach whilst he dealt with the health of his friend. Now he was sure that he'd be ending up in the same situation as his nerdy friend. 

Another blow to the back of his skull sent Barry's head spinning; his entire body toppled to the ground and his face smacked against the tiled floor, causing his vision to slowly start to succumb to darkness. The last thing he saw before his vision finally cut off was the polished leather of an expensive pair of shoes, and then pure darkness overcame him.


	2. Chapter 2

Barry woke to the sound of screaming.

He pried his heavy eyelids open, blinking a few times until his eyes had fully adjusted to the bright light that was an overwhelming change to the previous void of darkness. He glanced around the well-lit room in a confused haze for a few seconds in an attempt to locate the source of the pained scream, but it wasn't until several moments later that he noticed the lightly bloodied shape of his unconscious best friend seated before him. The scientist's worn hands were tied uselessly to the arms of the metal chair he had been seated upon, a few splatters of dried blood decorating the thick ropes from which Barry could only assume had been caused by struggling. A thin trickle of scarlet liquid also trickled partway down the man's forehead, presumably from the blow to the back of his head, and dark blood had dried in his matted hair, but those appeared to be the only injuries Cisco had sustained.

The CSI glanced downwards to his own wrists, which unsurprisingly were also bound firmly to the cold metallic structure of the chair. He let out a low sigh at his apparent helplessness; although Barry could phase through his rough bindings in a matter of seconds, any such attempt at escape could quite possibly be identity revealing and he wasn't sure if it was worth the risk.

They were still at STAR Labs, which surprised Barry, but the familiar bright walls and desks gave him a sense of calmness despite their situation.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr Allen. I don't suppose you'll be willing to share with me the identity of a certain scarlet speedster?" A cold voice questioned from behind him, sending a small shudder down Barry's spine. He couldn't quite place where the voice had come from, nor could he turn and see, but he didn't need to. Barry could instantly recognise the familiar low growl of the man he'd hoped never to see again, a man Barry knew wouldn't stop until he received answers.

"Mardon." Barry breathed, his tone laced with hatred as the man stepped around Barry's chair, his footsteps barely audible against the white tiled floor as he did so. Barry didn't look up, instead shrouded his fear-ridden face beneath a lock of dark hair that had fallen free from his usual neat hairstyle. He took deep, even breaths in hopes that he would appear calm to the piercing eyes of the man towering above his tiny frame, but the faint shuddering that radiated through his body told a completely different story.

"Nervous, Allen?"

Mardon 's tone was humoured and he let out a short snort at his own remark, sparking a flame inside of Barry. No matter how defenceless he appeared, he would _not_ allow this monster of a man to take advantage of his fear. He snapped his head upwards, his eyes narrowing as they met the cold ones of Mark Mardon.

'Yes, I'm absolutely terrified.' Was what he wanted to say. But no, he had to appear strong.

"Of what?" The insult was feeble, but the ferocity in which Barry spat the few words was unmistakably that of a fighter. "You?"

Mardon laughed.

"Nice try, Allen, but you're not exactly the epitome of fierce." As if to prove his point, he thrust his fist forward menacingly, pausing merely centimetres away from Barry's cheek. Barry flinched, moving away from the incoming blow upon instinct. "But that's beside the point; just tell me who The Flash really is and you can be on your way. You don't owe him anything."

"I don't know who he is."

"Yes you do! You both do." Mark glanced accusingly between Cisco's unconscious form and Barry, his cheeks growing red with fury. Barry shook his head blankly.

"I'll find out one way or another, Allen! Then I'll kill him; slowly, painfully, and then I'll move on to our good detective Joe West - he's your father, right? I'll kill him right here, right in front of you! Along with any other son of a bitch that gets in my way. Is that what you want, Allen?" An blast of ice erupted from the man's fingertips, its cold blue power hitting Barry square in the stomach with enough force to send both his chair and his bound body spiralling to the ground. He breathed in hard, gathering as much oxygen as possible to recover before taking an anxious glance down his body at the gaping hole in his STAR Labs sweater. He couldn't quite see the damage beneath, but by the searing pain that echoed throughout his torso, it was bad.

"I said, is that what you want?!" The fuming face of Mark Mardon appeared in Barry's peripheral vision, igniting a fear Barry had never felt before deep inside himself. He couldn't stop himself; he didn't care anymore about his identity, or how Wells and Joe would react when they found out Mark Mardon - of all people - knew about Barry's second life as The Flash, but he had to get the pain to stop. He focused all of his attention on his wrists and willed them to vibrate, but to his uttermost shock, nothing happened.

He tried again.

Nothing.

Mardon was approaching quicker.

Nothing.

He felt a foot collide with his stomach, a fresh wave of pain overcoming him and completely breaking whatever concentration he had gathered. The only thing he could think about was the pain. It was endless, never stopping.

"Please-" He murmured, his words slurring as dark spots began to cloud his vision.

The pain.

The last thing Barry noticed before his body surrendered once more to the darkness was that Cisco had begun to stir.

Oh god, Cisco.

And then his vision went black.


	3. Chapter 3

It took most of Cisco's will not to react as he came to, his gaze immediately setting upon Barry's beaten body and the bloody wound he'd acquired. It was large, larger than anything he'd ever tended to; Caitlin usually dealt with the more deadly injuries Barry often obtained but even with the little experience Cisco had, he knew it would take longer than just a few hours to heal. His vision still slightly blurred from his previous encounter with his captor, he leant forward and gave his best attempt at examining the wound (as much as he could tied to a chair a few meters away), finally determining that the gaping hole in Barry's chest was the cause of a burn rather than a cut. Cisco winced; in his experience, the burn was going to hurt a crap ton more than a mere gash.

Averting his eyes from Barry's body (if he didn't, he was sure he'd be sick), Cisco instead began staring intently at the ropes binding his wrists to the chair's arms as though if he stared hard enough, they'd disappear. He didn't attempt to struggle against them, however; he vaguely recalled himself rubbing his wrists raw before he'd passed out again with no such luck of freeing them. That'd probably explain the burning white pain that exploded from his wrists whenever he moved them.

"Hey, Cisco.."

The scientists head shot up at the unanticipated words that arose from opposite him, the sudden movement sparking a headache he hadn't even realised he had. His heart filled with pity as he met Barry's crestfallen and pained eyes with his own worried ones, the pain the CSI was feeling evident on his pale cheeks.

"Barry, man. We need to find a way out of here. I know you must be in a hell of a lot of pain, but it will only get worse." Cisco's voice was hoarse from lack of hydration and though he himself wasn't sure if he could muster the energy to move, he had to remain hopeful for Barry's sake. And maybe a little for his own, too. "We need to find a way to contact Caitlin- or Dr. Wells. Do you have your cellphone?"

From the other side of the room, Barry shook his head in dismay. "I-" He began, his sentence disrupted by a series of coughs. Once he'd recovered, he continued, "I left it at my desk." He gestured weakly in the direction of his workplace, where as expected their only method of contact lay.

"Dammit." Cisco grunted. "Mine's dead. Too much PacMan, I guess. " At this Barry let out a small laugh, which resulted in yet another round of hardcore coughing. "Okay, no more laughing, Bar. You're gonna end up killing yourself."

Barry let out a low sigh, but Cisco didn't stop to let him feel sorry for himself. They needed to devise a plan, and devise one quickly. "Have you tried your powers?"

"Mmm. They're not working." This only seemed to make Barry's miserable expression somehow worsen. "I don't know what's stopping them, but it's working."

Cisco pondered Barry's response for a few silent minutes, the deadly stillness of the room beginning to grow scary until an idea finally submerged in his mind, giving the scientist incentive to break the eerie silence.

"What Mardon hit you with- whatever caused that stomach wound...was it cold?"

Barry nodded. "I think so. I couldn't really tell; the pain was sort of more important to me at the time, but I think so. Why?"

"See, at really cold temperatures movement on the molecular level is brought to a standstill, therefore your molecules will lose their energy. You may be fast, Barry, but without this energy you're gonna be pretty slow for a while."

Cisco didn't even have to look to know Barry had grimaced.

"So what you're saying is we're out of luck?"

"Until I can think of another plan, yes."

Barry lowered his head until his chin rested against his upper torso, his gaze centered on his lap. Cisco wished he could know what was going on inside the speedster's fast paced mind - wished he could offer any kind of support, but he wasn't Caitlin, or Iris, or Joe. He had no idea what he could say that would make Barry feel any better.

After maybe ten minutes of this, Cisco noticed Barry's head rise. His worry grew when he met Barry's eyes, which were filled with determination.

"I have a plan, Cisco. And you're not going to like it..."

-.-.-.-

"No way, Barry. I'm not going to let you give yourself up to Mardon. God knows what he'll do to you!"

"Cisco, dammit! It's the only way you're gonna get out of here alive!"

"I'm not giving up on you, Barry. You know me better than that. We'll think of something else - there's always another way out."

"Yeah, there is! And this is it, Cisco. Trust me."

"Barry, no. Think about what you're saying. You can't go and throw your life away like this. What about Iris? Your dad? They need you, Bar. I need you. Your city needs you."

The speedster exhaled, his sleepy gaze distant and weary. He took a few seconds to consider Cisco's words before muttering, "Fine. But if the worst comes to the worst, Cisco, trust me; I won't hesitate to tell him."

"I'm sure you'd be willing to enlighten me soon enough." The room's temperature seemed to drop a few degrees as the chilling voice echoed phantasmally throughout the cortex, sending shivers scurrying down both bound scientist's spines. Fear was evident on Barry's face despite his fierce attempts to disguise it as courage, but Cisco could tell he was terrified. He attempted to make eye contact with the CSI, aiming to reassure him, but to no avail. The speedster's eyes were locked firmly on Mark Mardon.

"Mardon-" Barry grunted as he straightened in his chair, the slight movement causing him to wince as his torn shirt brushed lightly over his wound. "Do you really think The Flash would've trusted two nerd scientists with something as important as his identity?"

Cisco chuckled at Barry's remark, trying his best to follow along with his string of lies. "He won't even trust me to upgrade his suit for him. Says something might go wrong. Pah." The scientist shook his head in mock disbelief. "When has my work ever 'gone wrong'?"

Thinking back on it, Cisco could name a fair few. He wasn't going to go into detail upon his failures though; he'd decided that now wasn't really the right time for such a discussion - he also wasn't particularly proud of such errors.

"Enough!" Mardon's booming voice cut off his thoughts in an instance, his attention immediately returning to the rogue metahuman. "I've seen the suit. Our Scarlet Speedster would have to come through here to collect it, meaning that at least one of you idiots will have seen him. Unless it's one of you." His cold eyes darted between Cisco and Barry, scanning their expressions for any sign of contrition. Cisco was certain he'd seen Barry's figure stiffen, but Mardon hadn't seemed to notice. Thank God. The last thing that would help their situation would be Barry revealing his identity as The Flash.

"Or maybe it's one of the lovely ladies you're often associated with- Iris? Caitlin? Unlikely, but huh. You never know."

Barry's expression hardened into one resembling pure ice at Mardon's mention of Iris and Caitlin, the fury in his eyes reflecting in his growing red cheeks. His lips had curled into a snarl as he lost control of his tight focus. "You leave them out of this! This has nothing to do with them!"

"No? How about Joe West?" Mardon continued, Barry's increased distress obviously bringing him enjoyment. "He's a detective, right? He'd have all the necessary equipment and information required to become such a hero. Perhaps I should pay him a visit...I would most enjoy having revenge on him for murdering my brother."

"No!" Barry roared, tugging against his bonds with a ferocity that shouldn't have been possible whilst bearing such a wound. He wasn't accomplishing anything, however, merely scuffing his wrists more against the rough rope. A thin line of blood had already appeared against his pale skin, and his wrists were a fierce pink in colour.

"Barry, man. Calm down." Cisco urged, ignoring the ongoing taunts of Mardon's and focusing only on one thing; Barry. "Listen to me, Bar. Joe's fine. Iris is fine. You just need to calm down before you hurt yourself more."

"No, no...Cisco, he's gonna hurt Joe!" Barry continued to thrash in his seat as tears began to well in his eyes, making no attempt to prevent them coming as they slid down his cheeks and landed in a moist puddle on his lap. He looked distraught, as though nothing would calm his frayed nerves, but Cisco pressed on, still trying to talk peace into his best friend.

"Barry, come on. It's okay. Joe's okay. Focus, man."

A sharp slap to the face appeared to be all it took to refocus the shaken speedster, his tearstained face turning upwards towards Mardon who towered over him like a skyscraper. Barry was breathing heavily, hyperventilating so hard Cisco was beginning to fear he'd pass out and render the scientist once again alone with the rogue metahuman that held them against their will.

"It seems, Mr Allen, that you care for Joe West - so I'll offer you a deal," Mardon began, a slither of a smile working its way to his lips as he studied Barry's broken form.

"The Flash's identity for your family's safety. Sound good?"

Author's Note:

Argh! Sorry for the long wait. I haven't really had any inspiration to write in the past month or so, but here's my Christmas gift to you: A new chapter. Enjoy!


End file.
